Army to kick out drug-taking squaddies

The Army is poised to kick out 20 soldiers who tested positive for drugs.

The Army carried out random tests on nearly 300 troops from the Royal Highland Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland, on March 5.

Some 286 soldiers were tested at their Glencorse Barracks base in Penicuik, Midlothian, and 20 results came back positive last Friday.

The Army said that the soldiers had tested positive for a range of drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and amphetamine.

The Army has said it would rather be short-handed than employ drug-users

One individual has previously tested positive and he faces an automatic discharge, while the remainder are fighting to save their careers.

Their commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Paul Harkness, said: "There is no room for people who take illegal drugs in this battalion.

"The Army policy on illegal drugs is quite clear - they are incompatible with military service and will not be tolerated.

"Whilst I am naturally disappointed with this small minority who have failed to live up to our values and standards, I am pleased they have been caught as a result of the Army's rigorous testing procedure."

All the soldiers tested were led into the gym company by company and escorted to the toilet to give their urine sample.

Lieutenant Colonel Harkness said the future job prospects of the soldiers sacked would also be affected as the Army was duty bound to inform the DVLA and potential employers that they had been discharged for drug use.

"These individuals must not be allowed to blacken the good name of this battalion and the vast majority of its soldiers who do not take drugs," he added.

"I would rather be undermanned by 20 men than have a full complement that includes drug users."

The Royal Highland Fusiliers were last compulsory drug tested in June 2006, when only one sample came back positive, meaning that the latest results signal a 20-fold increase.

But the MoD stressed that statistics underline drug misuse is less prevalent among service personnel than among civilians.

Positive rates in the Army over the last four years averaged around 0.7 per cent, compared with more than 5 per cent in civilian workplace drug testing programmes in the UK, said a spokesman.

It comes after it emerged this month 26 soldiers from the Royal Scots Borderers 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland had been dismissed for drug-taking.

The MoD also launched an investigation earlier this month after pictures of troops from the 2nd battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland allegedly snorting cocaine in Cyprus appeared in a newspaper.